THURSDAY, 01 JULY 2010 00:00 FROM LAOLU AKANDE, NEW YORK NEWS - NATIONAL
One major highlight of that presidency, she disclosed, is the holding of a high-level debate on the theme coined by Nigeria – Preventive Diplomacy, to review the state of international peace-keeping at the UN. Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan or the Foreign Affairs Minister Odein Ajumogobia is expected to preside over that debate at the UN headquarters in New York on July 16.
The last time Nigeria presided over the Council was in 1994-1995 while Professor Ibrahim Gambari was the nation's ambassador to the world body.
Explaining Nigeria's focus on Preventive Diplomacy, its implication for peacekeeping and the role of the Security Council in the matter, Ogwu said being one of the four foremost contributors of peacekeepers to the UN – about 6,000 troops currently – Nigeria is well placed to discuss the "increasing cost of peacekeeping, so that the pains and costs of peacekeeping will be minimised and the advantages of preventive diplomacy optimised."
It is the responsibility of the Security Council to deploy UN peacekeeping missions and so, Nigeria's choice of that theme as one of the focus of its Presidency is in line with both the UN Charter and Nigeria's well acclaimed status on peacekeeping in the UN. The high-level debate billed for July 16 is expected to draw other high-level participants, including ministers and other top officials of the other 14 Security Council members including the five permanent members, normally referred to as the P5.
According to Ogwu, who will be presiding over the Security Council on Nigeria's behalf for the month of July, except when the president or minister is around, another highlight of her presidency of the Council is next week's visit of the Queen of England to the United Nations.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will be at the UN headquarters in New York next week Tuesday (July 6) and will be addressing the General Assembly in the afternoon.
The Queen is also expected to confer with members of the Security Council at a time Nigeria's Permanent Representative will be leading the Council.
Ogwu noted that while the Queen visited Nigeria 54 years ago, she was a young Girls Guide member parading on the street to honour her and now she will be hosting the Queen as president of the Council in New York over five decades after. Excited, Ogwu said she looked to that meeting next week.
Also speaking on Nigeria's agenda as its president, the Political Coordinator of the Nigerian Security Council team, a senior career diplomat, Mr. Paul Ololo, explained that the leadership of the council is collegiate, which makes the members to work collectively, sending collective messages and acting as one.
Nonetheless, as president of the Council in July, Ololo noted that Nigeria has the opportunity to "decide, but not determine" the agenda for the month, recalling that since the time Nigeria won the seat last year October, the nation made it clear that Preventive Diplomacy would be "our defining issue on the Council."
He gave a detailed explanation. According to him, Preventive Diplomacy focused on preventing conflicts in the first instance rather than sending troops once the conflict has started.
"Preventive Diplomacy is less disruptive, less expensive, but it does not get the prominence it deserves, " Nigeria's Political Coordinator at the Security Council Team declared.
Nigeria's presidency, therefore, he said, would afford the prominence to preventive diplomacy. He added that peacekeeping is growing in complexity, in size and in costs.
For instance while peacekeeping costs at the UN was about $2 billion in the early 2000s, it is now costing about $8.5 billion. He then asked rhetorically: "How long will the world finance such operations?”
According to him, because Nigeria has been preoccupied since 1960 with international peacekeeping, "we have a lot of lessons learnt."
Ololo added that Nigeria's membership and presidency of the council will also focus on West African regional stability and proffer ways that the region remains stable, peaceful, and at ease with itself and responsive to the needs of its people without being a threat to itself and the world. An open debate on this will also be held under Nigeria's presidency this month, he disclosed.
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